Sunderland A Step Toward Full Confidence

Sunderland, with all due respect to the former Premier League side that's currently struggling in the Championship, wasn't the toughest of tasks Everton could have face but a wins a win and given the Blues' recent form we'll take any.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin opened the scoring when finishing in the box with what was the first goal the Blues had scored in around seven and a half hours of football - his second basically ended the contest.

Only the post denied the England U21 international a hat trick before his replacement Oumar Niasse, making his first appearance for the club since May 2016, completed the 3-0 win.

This victory at Goodison Park moved Everton into the fourth round - where we'll face Chelsea - and Ronald Koeman is hopeful this League Cup win can act as a catalyst to take forward into Bournemouth's Premier League visit on Saturday.

He told the Official Website: 'Everybody knows we are in a difficult moment and scoring goals and winning games is the best medicine to get our full confidence back. Let's hope the result tonight and the way that we played gives us a boost for Saturday.'

Adding: 'It's normal at 2-0 with 20 minutes to go that you play with full confidence but when you start the game or when it's a difficult game then still you need to show that. We scored three goals and maybe we had some other good chances to score even more. We fought for a good result and I'm happy about the performance.'

This has given Koeman some choices to make ahead of the weekend as those, on the whole, who were given a chance, impressed the boss.

Koeman said: 'Of course you look at the individual performances of the players but first is the team, and I think everybody worked hard and the final result was good. The second half was better, we played at a higher tempo and we created more chances than in the first half. Overall, it was positive, everybody tried to impress and to play and now we will pick the best team to play on Saturday.'

Calvert-Lewin continues his impressive progress since arriving from Sheffield United and drew praise from Koeman.

He played down suggestion this brace had boosted the forwards chances of starting at the weekend though as Calvert-Lewin, 20, has always been in his plans given his ability - he's also been backed to get better and better in the years ahead.

'He's always in my mind. He's still a young player, 20, and sometimes you need to protect him,' said Koeman. 'But he's a good player and [in the future] he will be stronger, he will be faster, he will be better. He scored a great first goal, because that's a really important goal, and the second was a good finish as well and killed the game at that time.'

Koeman continued: 'He's working, he's doing well and he's a good boy, but we have other players in that position as well.'

Now the boss is hoping for three positive results heading into the October international break that would bring a smile to the Dutchman's face.

'Let's hope tonight we start to win at home. We have three games to go and if we win them all the whole situation will be different and I will go into the international break with a smile on my face.'